Stanford vs. Va. Tech
This game features two of the best quarterbacks in college football right now; Andrew Luck and Tyrod Taylor. While both will get a lot of publicity and are important to their respective team winning the game, they aren’t the key to their respective team winning the game. That would be the running game, which both teams excel at.
Andrew Luck may get a lot of the publicity for Stanford, but everything he does is based off the balanced provided by Stanford’s potent running game. Stepfan Taylor and Anthony Wilkerson have done a good job of making the loss of Toby Gerhart not hurt as much as it would hurt other teams. Both are very effective in the scheme that offensive coordinator David Shaw likes to use. Shaw likes to use multiple formations and shifts to dictate what how the defense needs to defend against the Stanford attack, notable using a lot power and weak counter plays (A weak counter is when an offense loads up one side of the offensive line with extra blockers like tight ends, then runs a counter play to the opposite side). This philosophy could make it difficult for the Virginia Tech Hokies to accurately predict where the ball is going and attack the ball with their athleticism. Defensive Ends Steven Friday and Chris Drager have had a hard time setting the edge and anchoring against the run. They’re much better at rushing the quarterback. Due to this deficiency, it could be hard for Va. Tech defensive coordinator to stick to his normal defensive scheme of allowing his safeties to play back to prevent big plays. He may have to push them closer to defend the run, though blitzing his linebackers to the weak side of the offensive line may work just as well. Either way he may need to leave his corners on islands to defend against the pass. That could end up working out fairly well though, as corner Rashad Carmichael and Jayron Hosley have shown that are quite capable of playing on islands. This should be doubly true against wide receivers Doug Baldwin and Ryan Whalen, who are good at route running, but not game breakers. It also won’t Stanford that Virginia Tech is very good a rushing the quarterback and forcing throws. However, Andrew Luck doesn’t have the publicity for nothing. He does a good job going through his reads and knows how to react to pressure. The Hokie pass rush must rattle him in the pocket so make force throws into coverage.
The Virginia Tech offensive line may not be the most physical line in the country, but they play sound assignment football. They are able to locate and cover up opposing defenders with little problem. This helps the runningback trio of Ryan Williams, David Wilson and Darren Evans, all of whom have great vision and quickness in finding at hitting a hole at full tilt. Stanford runs a 3-4 defense with overly enthusiastic outside linebacker/defensive ends, Chase Thomas and Thomas Keiser, who have a tendency to get too far upfield in run defense, which leaves a crease between them and their defensive linemen. Giving these runningbacks a crease is a bad idea, because they can rip off big chunks of yards in any given play. The dual-threat that is Tyrod Taylor helps out that running game by drawing at least one defender to spy him. In a pinch the Hokies can use a zone-read option to make opponents pick between stopping him and stopping the runningback. Taylor’s only real weakness is that he doesn’t throw as well from inside the pocket. Stanford needs to be able to contain him in the pocket in order to reduce his effectiveness in the passing game, making the Va. Tech offense one dimensional. However with Keiser and Thomas over-running the run, there will be a lot of opportunities for Taylor to break contain and make throws on the run. If he is on the outside, it will be hard for the Stanford secondary to simply stay with their receivers and not leave their assignments to come up in run support. However if he is kept within the pocket, the secondary can stay with their assignments and take advantage of a less than perfect pocket passer.
Prospects to Watch
Stanford
Andrew Luck – Quarterback: While I have many doubts about his ability to succeed at the next level with so little experience, Luck certainly has a lot of tangibles going in his favor. He has good arm strength and touch, displays an ability to look off safeties and make proper reads. His best asset is his ability to make subtle moves in the pocket that extends plays, the same thing Tom Brady is praised for. However he is not a prefect prospect. He also has a tendency to throw the ball of balance and place too much trust in his arm strength. That last one is probably the most dangerous thing that a quarterback prospect can do. It leads to those quarterbacks forcing the ball into coverage believing that they can just out-throw the coverage, but it doesn’t work in the NFL. Mark Sanchez is a quarterback I saw do this a lot in college and, while he is winning in the NFL, he’s also on a team that can make up for his mistakes while he grows out of those tendencies. Luck may not get on a team that can make up for those mistakes. Luck’s physical talents make him a top 5 pick, and he is likely to come out since there is good chance Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh will be leaving following this game, but I’m not entirely convinced that he’ll be successful in the NFL.
Va. Tech
Rashad Carmichael – Cornerback: Rashad ‘Rock’ Carmichael follows DeAngelo Hall, Jimmy Williams, Brandon Flowers, Victor “Macho” Harris and Stephen Virgil in a line of solid cornerback prospects to come out of Virginia Tech. While Carmichael is under-sized and needs to work on his tackling technique, he is also very fast and has good ball skills. He has experience in both zone and man coverage, though he is better in man than zone. That goes a long way to getting him drafted because he can fit into any scheme, though you don’t want him to be matched up against bigger receivers in the end-zone. He also has good change of direction skills, good acceleration and is willing to mix it up in run defense. He should be drafted in the third round, but definitely has second round skills.
Final Pick
Virginia Tech – Since losing to James Madison in their second game of the season, Virginia Tech has been underestimated. I think the staples of Beamer ball, strong defense, strong running and good special teams will be on show in this game and the athleticism of Virginia Tech will be more than enough to counter the trickery of Stanford.
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